My sister and I grew up in a little village in England．Our father was a struggling 1 , but I always knew he was 2 ．He never criticized us, but used 3 to bring out our best．He’d say,”If you pour water on flowers, they flourish．If you don’t give them water, they die．”I 4 as a child I said something 5 about somebody, and my father said,” 6 time you say something unpleasant about somebody else, it’s a reflection of you．”He explained that if I looked for the best 7 people, I would get the best 8 ．From then on I’ve always tried to 9 the principle in my life and later in running my company．
Dad’s also always been very 10 ．At 15, I started a magazine．It was 11 a great deal of my time, and the headmaster of my school gave me a 12 ： stay in school or leave to work on my magazine．
I decided to leave, and Dad tried to sway me from my decision, 13 any good father would．When he realized I had made up my mind, he said,”Richard, when I was 23, my dad 14 me to go into law．And I’ve 15 regretted it, I wanted to be a biologist, 16 I didn’t pursue my 17 ．You know what you want．Go fulfill it．”
As 18 turned out, my little publication went on to become Student, a national 19 for young people in the U．K．My wife and I have two children, and I’d like to think we are bringing them up in the same way Dad 20 me．
